By Harrison Fisher – Staff Reporter

Last year’s Milford Mariners hockey team had to navigate a few changes.

Their new name and uniforms were topics of conversation around town. The process is now complete and the newly named Milford Mariners have taken the ice again this winter adorned with their spectacular new sweaters. 

The Mariners are now over a month into their 2021-2022 schedule and have a record of 1-3-1. The team is bringing fans and energy to the ice and they are practicing hard and coming together as a team. 

Head coach Ken Mitchell has been working these players through rigorous drills to help sharpen their skills.

“So far it has been an up and down season,” Mitchell said. “With a little more scoring, our record would look different. My hope is that we continue to show up and work hard everyday. That is the only way to succeed. We have taken a few hits with players out due to COVID.  It is what it is, and it’s the next man up, we say. Constant reinforcement and tailoring practices to develop our skills will help us improve. The scoring will come.  Then when it does, we can hopefully get on a roll.”

Kevin Wokanovicz and Luca Ubaldi are veteran skaters and ready to lead the team to victory. These captains have set their sights on a successful season. 

As the page turns to 2022, the Mariners are looking to climb the standing in Division III.  The team is looking to take advantage of every opportunity on the ice after being impacted by COVID last season. 

Mitchell’s assistant coaches this year are Bob Fortier and Tim Zakrzewski.

“I feel pretty good about the season,” Fortier said. “It was nice to have it start on time unlike last year when we started six weeks late due to the pandemic. We have not won as many games as we would have liked to this point, but the season is still young. As a team, we agree that we are putting in the hard work that is required for success and feel things will turn in our favor soon.”

Fortier said that despite being a young team, the Mariners have high aspirations for the season.

“Each year we take to the ice with the goal of qualifying for the SCC and CIAC post-season tournaments, in addition to this we look to improve each and every day,” Fortier said. “We have 12 new players this season with only having lost two seniors last year, As a team, the goal would be to help these players grow as people and hockey players as well as get new players up to speed and in a position where they can help contribute to the team. We are hopeful that with these players growing and improving along with the upperclassmen doing the same that we will hit our stride in the second half of the season.”

The Mariners players and coaching staff is hoping to steer the team in the right direction this season. New and veteran players will continue to take advantage of all opportunities that they believe will lead to success.